Dear Cornerstone Family,
It was encouraging to see that a good number of you tuned in to the livestream conversations on Thursday evening June 11th and 18th. Given the current unrest, your pastoral staff believed it important to take time to reflect in an intentional way on this cultural moment in light of the Scripture’s clear teaching on the Holy Spirit and the mission of the church. We strongly believe that by taking off the spectacles of media and politics and putting on the spectacles of the Word we’re better prepared to (1) rightly interpret what’s going on around us and (2) bear witness to the power of the gospel with winsomeness and wisdom. We sincerely hope these conversations helped in that regard.
If you missed one or both conversations, please take time in the next week or two to get caught up. You can find the conversations on the video archive page on our website or on our YouTube channel. As always, we love hearing from you. Tell us what you learned. Tell us what questions you still have. We’d love to keep the conversation going.
Also, I’d like to remind you to pray for our officer candidates as they enter the homestretch of officer training. They’ve just finished a detailed study of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Book of Church Order and will enter this week into the final phase of training. This last step in the process will focus on the specific roles and duties of elders and deacons. Lord willing, if all goes according to plan, the Session will exam the candidates in August and will shortly thereafter present to you, the congregation, a slate of recommended new officers for election by mid-August. In the meantime, please remember these brothers in prayer: Will Kesler, Brent Roberts, John Millard, Ron Moffat, Casey Taggert, Matt Faulk, Wes Pittman, Carl Ware, Matt Suits, and Dan Fiedler.
Finally, two weeks ago the Finance Committee gave a financial update and a 2020/2021 budget summary report. If you missed that report, please visit our website, cornerstonepresfranklin.org, and scroll to the bottom of the homepage to read the June 14th edition of the Pastoral Notes. Though we’ve seen a 20% dip in giving over the last nine weeks, we remain hopeful that as the economy comes back online we’ll begin to see our giving rebound. We are deeply grateful to God for continuing to maintain our needs through your faithful giving during this difficult season, and we look forward to seeing how He will continue to faithfully take care of us in the days ahead as He promises us in Philippians 4:19: And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Your servant,
Nate